Okay here is the first of hopefully many interviews with other bloggers. I am hoping that you will find these interviews very informative and that you can all reply with questions of your own for these people.
Anyway here is the Interview with Aldon Hynes of Orient Lodge.
[Aldon Hynes] In a few months, I will turn fifty years old. I’ve spent much of my working life with computers. I started programming in the 1960s and got on the Internet in the early 1980s. I like to experiment with any new piece of technology that comes along.
A little about your blog… what made you start it ?
[Aldon Hynes] I had been writing content for various websites online for a few years. In 2004, I was credentialed to cover the Democratic National Convention in Boston. It was about that time that I figured I needed to come up with one central repository to keep all the different things I was writing online.
What do you cover in your blog ?
[Aldon Hynes] Pretty much, I cover whatever catches my attention. A lot of it started with technology and politics. It has expanded into journalism, and I like to write about local events and family events. The technology area has expanded to focus a lot on social media issues.Why are these topics the ones you cover? (importance to you etc)
[Aldon Hynes] There are a few things that are particularly importantly to me. I like being an innovator, an early adopter, and just having fun experimenting with all sorts of technology. I’m also fascinated by human interaction, especially as it takes place online. Beyond that, I hope that some of my will be helpful to others. I seek to help people with technology, and I seek to help people through politics and civic engagement. I hope that my writing helps people get more engaged in the world around them. Anything you want to change improve on your blog?
[Aldon Hynes] The biggest problem that I have is that I try out all kinds of widgets, tools, scripts and so on on my blog. This makes it load fairly slowly, especially for people using Internet Explorer. So, the most important thing would be for it to be faster. Of course, I’d love to see more traffic, better page rankings, more linking, etc., but my site does pretty well in these areas. What is really most important is fostering a sense of community and good discussions.
Do you find running your blog expensive? If so what have you tried to do to sort this.
[Aldon Hynes] Over the years, I’ve gone from a reseller account with a few different hosting services to a virtual private server. This is much more expensive than the standard shared hosting service. However, I set up websites for others and get revenues that offset the cost of hosting. I’ve started spending a little money on advertising, so far just on Adgitize. The revenues that I make back cover those expenses.
[Aldon Hynes] I’ve given lots of different advice to people starting their own blogs. It really depends on what you want to do with it. Do you want a small free blog where you can write your own stuff? Use WordPress or Blogger, and just do it. Do you want to do something more substantial? Buy a domain, set up a hosting account and use wordpress or Drupal. I’m a big Drupal fan.
[Aldon Hynes] Well, I guess the big thing to me as an early adopter is to keep trying new things. Play with Twitter. Do some audio or video. Explore new things and talk about it. Most importantly, have fun.
I hope you find this useful. Feel free to send any followup questions.
Aldon
Thanks to Aldon for this interview and I highly reccommend that you check out his blog, Orient Lodge. send any questions for him or which you want in our other articles to me via lee@dunbardomains.co.uk or via a comment bellow.